Sewn: Banff Dolman Top

You may be forgiven for thinking that the Sew News Banff Dolman Top is a super quick sew (there only being 4 pieces), but the top calls for a sweater knit and no-one prepared me for how difficult this was to sew!!

I love the two-tone versions of this top, however, in my mind I can’t lose the Star Trek association so it was only ever going to be a monotone for me. To this end, I did nothing fancier than slightly overlapping my yoke and main pieces on my fabric before cutting out.

The fabric I bought is a lovely, relatively lightweight olive green slab sweater knit from Minerva. It has a good amount of stretch in one way but hardly any the other. The edges fray like crazy. To combat this, I recut my neck facings at about double the width and then overlocked all the edges. Then I used the stretch stitch and quite a wide seam allowance for extra insurance. 

The hems I finished by turning the overlocked edges and sewing with a twin needle.

I’m pleased with the result although the wrists are quite tight to get over my hands - I suspect this is a combination of my over zealous seam allowance and the fact that my knit has almost no stretch on the vertical. It’s not uncomfortable to wear though, but I will definitely widen the sleeve ends if I make another. 

The front and back are identical and that suits me fine, but I have seen that other seamstresses have slightly lowered the neckline at the front.

This is my second sew from the Plush pattern pack by Sew News.

Love Mrs Jones x